After a devastating typhoon, WCK supports local partners providing hot meals in the Philippines
Days before Christmas, Super Typhoon Rai—referred to locally as Odette—hit the Philippines, affecting more than 4.2 million people and forcing over 300,000 people to evacuate their homes. Rai is the 15th typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines this year, worsening the situation for communities that are still recovering from previous storms. By supporting local groups, WCK is providing comforting meals throughout the affected areas.
December 30 map of WCK response efforts
WCK Relief efforts began by supporting two organizations who were already cooking meals in Bohol and Mindanao.
For families in the hard-hit town of Tubigon, Island Kusina provided over 500 plates of pancit, rice, and lumpia. The island is without power and clean water, and gas is in limited supply. Entire villages throughout the Philippines are without power and full restoration is not expected until February.
In Mindanao, WCK partner, ART Relief Mobile Kitchen has distributed over 8,000 meals—day and night—in Surigao del Sur, Iligan, and Butuan city, and with WCK, they are continuing to expand efforts. With two kitchens, ARMK is preparing dishes like soy marinated beef with garlic, calamansi lime, and bell pepper topped with raw onion, as well as beef with honey, soy sauce, chayote, and carrots. To reach more affected communities, local agencies have been helping distribute food.
Together with Vedya Resort owners, WCK is also providing free meals to families in Siargao. In the coming days, we will be working with them to expand their efforts across the island.
Palawan was hard-hit and the lack of communications made it difficult to know the severity of the damage in the immediate aftermath of the storm. WCK is now supporting Odette Palawan Relief where they are cooking food out of 7 kitchens on the island. In San Vicente, the team delivered hot meals of rice with mung bean and stir fried vegetables. For evacuees in El Nido, 500 comforting meals of rice noodles with stir fried vegetables and pumpkin soup were provided. Donated rice is also being provided to households that are able to cook.
Serving an island favorite of pancit and lumpia, our newest partner, Lokal Lab prepared meals for families in Surigao.
As WCK continues to support local groups in providing hot meals, the Relief Team is working to get on the ground to see how we can expand our efforts to reach communities with the most urgent needs. To date, WCK has supported our partners to serve over 13,000 meals and we are connecting with teams in Southern Leyte, Negros Oriental, and Dinagat Island to possibly start supporting hot meals there.
This is the first time WCK has responded in the Philippines—one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world where natural disasters are frequent, inevitable, and getting worse. There is a huge need for help and WCK is committed to being here as long as we are needed.
For the most up-to-date information on our response in the Philippines, follow WCK on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
